Recognizing the importance of establishing for
history an authentic text of the Trial of major German war criminals,
the International Military Tribunal directed the publication of the
Record of the Trial. The proceedings are published in English,
French, Russian, and German, the four languages used throughout the
hearings. The documents admitted in evidence are printed only in
their original language.

The first volume contains basic, official,
pre-trial documents together with the Tribunal's judgment and
sentence of the defendants. In subsequent volumes the Trial
proceedings are published in full from the preliminary session of 14
November 1945 to the closing session of 1 October 1946. They are
followed by an index volume. Documents admitted in evidence conclude
the publication.

The proceedings of the International Military
Tribunal were recorded in full by stenographic notes, and an electric
sound recording of all oral proceedings was maintained.

Reviewing sections have verified in the four
languages citations, statistics, and other data, and have eliminated
obvious grammatical errors and verbal irrelevancies. Finally,
corrected texts have been certified for publication by Colonel Ray
for the United States. Mr. Mercer for the United Kingdom, Mr. Fuster
for France, and Major Poltorak for the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics.